…and was instantly swept back to a turbulent span of time from my past.

What you see above is a large metal dog cage folded up behind a plastic floor liner.

After adopting Mr. Fabulous in April 2006, I kept her in the same exact type of cage whenever I left the house. At first, she just peed in the tray and then rolled around in it; a fairly understandable action for a four-month-old puppy. But as time went on—slowly at first, of course—she started to nibble on the plastic tray beneath her. Eventually, over the span of a month or two, she ate it.

That’s right: Mr. Fabulous literally ate the crate I used to keep her in.

Needless to say, it didn’t take long before she was just being left alone in the bathroom with the door shut.

She’s much more well behaved now. Most of the time, at least. Still, while that time was definitely insane, she was worth every tense moment.